Hearse driver sees pros of job

Hearse driver sees pros of job

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post/Tangerang

He is not a famous television detective, but 45-year-old Kojak
Anandang, Ojeg to his friends, no doubt has had his share of
excitement and scares as a hearse driver.

Kojak said the first six months on the job in the early 1990s
were a nightmare.

"I drove one corpse to a village in Central Java. At night,
while driving, I kept feeling someone tap me on the shoulder. But
no one was in the back of the van except the body," he told The
Jakarta Post on Friday.

It finally stopped when he shouted: "Please, don't play any
jokes, buddy".

His second eerie experience took place while driving a corpse
to a village in East Java. Sleepy, Kojak pulled over to the side
of the road and fell asleep in the front seat. He woke up under a
tree some 50 meters away from the vehicle.

On another occasion, Kojak ran into a string of bad luck. He
had engine trouble, five flat tires and a bad car battery,
turning the normal eight-hour drive to Yogyakarta into a two-day
journey.

"The body began decaying .... Later I heard the deceased had
left a message that he wanted to be buried in Jakarta, but his
family insisted on bringing his body back to Yogyakarta."

While transporting a corpse to Lampung for burial, Kojak heard
the sound of men quarreling in the back of his van. The sound
disappeared when he stopped the van to check.

"But it came back again as soon as I started the engine. It
finally disappeared after I said: 'You're already dead but you
can still fight. Great. Go ahead,'" Kojak said.

After numerous other encounters, Kojak says he has no more
fears and enjoys the whole thing.

Kojak is not a permanent driver for the Tangerang Hospital
morgue. He has been a replacement driver for the past 15 years, a
job he took because it pays better than being a public minivan
driver.

"It's not bad ... I used to be able to bring home Rp 2.5
million (US$280) a month," he said, adding that most of the money
came from tips from relatives of the deceased.

But things have not been so good over the last two years for
Kojak.

The hospital morgue expanded its service by adding to its
fleet of ambulance vans designed specially to carry bodies, so he
and the other drivers now work on shifts.

Kojak considers himself lucky if he gets to serve some of the
better-off families in Tangerang. With tips, he can earn Rp 1
million a month, but that is rare.

"Every time I transport bodies that have been claimed by poor
families, instead of getting a tip I often end up paying for the
food during the trip," he said.

"But I love the job and will stay at the morgue because
there's no stress and I enjoy doing the work," Kojak said.